Government

3:44 pm

Tue July 30, 2013

Bill Daley officially announces run for governor

Tuesday former commerce secretary and investment banker Bill Daley says he's officially running for Illinois governor. But this comes nearly two months after Daley said he was already "totally committed" to the race. So IPR’s Brian Mackey asks: did anything really change?

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Back in the spring, when Daley said he was "totally committed," he also said he was just forming an "exploratory committee." Fast forward, and in a new video on his website, Daley says, "I'm committed to running for governor. There is no exploratory piece of this anymore."

Technically, under Illinois election law, there's no such thing as an "exploratory committee." A common theory holds that the whole Hamlet act simply guarantees two days of news coverage -- one when the exploratory committee is formed, another when the campaign is made official. But there's something else going on here.

"Americans, in general, don't like politics and politicians." Chris Mooney is a political studies professor at the University of Illinois Springfield. "What we like is to have the sort-of draft movement: 'Oh, well, you know, the people have been coming to me and telling me that they need help, they need my leadership, and I'm here to offer some help.' "

Which is precisely the message in Daley's video.

It's worth noting that the filing period for candidates doesn't begin until November.